Private Excavation & Interment

[Ulrich]

It is not often that one receives communication from the hand of the Emperor. Even rarer is a missive that encourages one to take initiative in constructing their own domain which is what Tellis has bid me to do. So it was that I have lad claim to what will from now on be the base of my operations, a keep on the planet of Chiron. The place is ancient, dating back to the Rakatan infinite empire when my people were at the height of their power. Many know of the amphibious Rakartan but few know that there were concurrent powers , far fewer in population but no less potent in might. It was an age of great expansion and heroism when we travelled from planet to planet , warring and lusting after the Duinuogwuin in equal parts, seeding the galaxy with the deformed bastards produced of our miscegenation. Even now the Krayt dragons of sweltering Tatooine and the wyverns of frozen Arkania show the extend of our expansion, though it is far from common knowledge.

The native Chironian have treated me with understandable wariness. Its more than my physical appearance of course. Those who practice my arts among the humanoid races are viewed with enough suspicion and distrust as it is. In my case it is compounded fourfold. But to their credit they have not yet raised a hand against me. I shall offer them the same kindness should they see fit to continue this state of affairs. The mountain upon which my new dwelling resides is a picturesque place , one that could easily have been ripped straight from the Carpathians of Urth or the sylvan ranges of Endor. The keep itself is a castle in the gothic style , turrets and towers reaching to the heavens with a portcullis heavy enough to turn aside the charge of a battalion of terentatek.

Local legend stated that the place was haunted. That was true enough , and even more so now that my skeletal servitors were dragging several sarcophagi from the bowels of my ship, the Ereshkigal. These particular coffins had come from Korriban, taken from the valley of the dark lords in preparation for what I was about to begin this very day - the training of an apprentice. A human youth who went by the name Kesran Opadal. We had never met in person, but the young man had impressed me with his keen interest in history and his prior pedigree. It seemed that Kesran was apprenticed to not one, but two previous dark lords of the Sith. Times being as they were fate had conspired against the young acolyte leaving him adrift without a definitive end to his training. Seeing a kindred spirit I decided to extent my services to the fledgling magus.

And so I basked in the midday sun letting the obsidian scales of my wings soak up the heat. Gaunt skeletal figures moved all around me, carrying the equipment that would be needed to transform this abandoned fortress into a proper dwelling. With one my eyes peeled I waited for the signs of a ship soaring through the sky to herald the arrival of my apprentice to be. In truth I had actually made an invitation to not one but two parties. The second would be a surprise to Kesran, should this mystery guest decide to show up I suspect she might be able to both learn from and impart knowledge to my new apprentice.

Kesran Opadal

 

[Kesran Opadal]

Aboard his personal starship, Customized HWK-1000




Kesran sat up from his pilot seat within the freighter. He stretched his arms back and forth as R4 rolled up from the back.

"Droid beeps in a welcoming tone". He turned to his droid companion with a grin. "Hey buddy". Kesran patted the droid on its head as it rolled up next to him and and stopped. He now thought through the last 10 months. His second master, the presumptive Sith Emperor, vanished. The Sith Empire virtually collapsed. And most of acolyte friends were either dead, abandoned the Sith, or were serving their masters. Most of the Academies in the region were also abandoned or destroyed. Kesran now found himself in a difficult position. He had been through two masters, lost some of his friends, and his training was still incomplete. His lightsaber skills had been improved greatly by his second master, even though their time had been short. However, even though he had learned much from both of his first two masters, he needed a third Sith master to officially finish his term as an Acolyte & Apprentice. Kesran still had weaknesses and flaws in his style and technique. As well as gaps in his mystical and force knowledge. He had been searching for a suitable mentor for quite a while.

Kesran had heard of this Sith before. They were not your typical Sith, in really any way. They were not the duelist type master that Kesran had been hoping for. However, Kesran had made an acquaintance with the Sith Lord, Lord Vemrich , who himself was a great duelist, so he had another teacher on the side to improve his saber skills even further.

This Sith in question was more of a necromancer and sorcerer, which still fit Kesran well. He was a far superior force wielder than most Acolytes his age and some low level Knights. He had always been interested in the darker arts of force, especially the more mystical ones. This Sith was an expert in those perspective categories.

They were a Sith Knight, but one unlike any other. They were a Basiliskan, a dragon type species. This one, unlike his recent forbearers, was actually sentient and had made themselves into a very powerful creature and force wielder.

Being someone who would sometimes go beyond boundaries, Kesran didn't have any issue with them in general. When it came to learning from such a creature, Kesran had read about Jedi training under a Tchuukthai and among many other cases. And Kesran himself didn't judge based on a species. As long as this Sith Knight could finish his training and help him complete his personal mold, Kesran didn't care what species they were and where they came from. His long-term plans, would continue, no matter what obstacles stood in his way.


Kesran refocused and noticed a beeping on the center console. It meant that they had reached the intended destination, the planet Chiron. Kesran took the controls and turned the ship down towards the surface. As it plunged through the atmosphere, he felt the strong presence he assumed he would find here. It was a bit stronger then he had predicted, which made him excited but also a tad anxious.

The light freighter soon reached a clearing in the clouds, which revealed the imposing gothic castle before him. Kesran now felt a bit colder than he usually did. He knew what that meant. He soon took the ship down to the landing platform located on a cliffside overlooking the castle in front of it.

Once he landed, he switched off the console and the ship power. Went around and locked all the compartments. Grabbed all of his Sith artifacts, especially the Holocron of Exar Kun. He packed up all of the stuff that he would need. His heart beat a bit heavier than normal, but that in itself was normal when Kesran met with a more powerful Sith, especially with one who intended to become his master. He finished his preparations and walked back up to the front to say goodbye to R4.

"Alright buddy, I'm gonna be training for a while". He paused briefly then continued. "You know what that means". "Droid beeps in a sad tone". Sith Training was no place for a droid, especially in close proximity. Kesran had resolved in the past to just shut down R4 until he used his ship again or needed his droid. This time he wasn't sure how long it would be until he activated him again. Though he had a feeling it wouldn't be as long as he dreaded. Nevertheless, He patted R4's head a few times before shutting him down. "Ok R4, its time buddy". The droid briefly wooed in sadness, but soon retained a normal position as Kesran switched off his power. He soon moved R4 into the back corner of the cargo hold. Then Kesran, before exiting, looked back at his ship. One side to remember what it looked like, the other to make sure he didn't forget anything. He then hit the elevator platform button as it descended from the ship.

A few moments later, he sealed the ship off by locking the ramp with the force. He soon walked away and made his way towards the ominous castle in front of him.


Kesran arrived at the front entrance, but before he could even do anything, he sensed another dark side presence. It was very distant, but still he felt it slowly approaching. It confused the young acolyte somewhat. He soon moved on from it and continued to the front entrance of the castle.



Ulrich

 

[Ulrich]

"The student approachesssssss"

So was the arrival conveyed to me by the susurration of spirits. From what I had seen most Sith had to focus their senses to pinpoint new arrivals. Not so when you have a waiting entourage of ghosts, all vying to be embodied in flesh once more. Lifting my head I espied my new protégé. A little over standard height for a human, pale with with the traditional vestments of an apprentice. Focusing my attention on the youth I addressed the newcomer.

"Welcome Kesran. From what it sounds like you have had quite the tumultuous time when it comes to finding tutelage. Being selected by not one, but two lords of the dark side only to have the chance snatched away by fate must be quite a frustrating ordeal indeed. I don't profess to being nearly as powerful in the ways of the darkside as either of the aforementioned rulers, but the fact that I am still here while they have been deposed should say something in regards to my longevity compared to their own.

While I do expect the respect you would grant a fellow practitioner of the arcane arts, I do not require your subservience. I do not like to think of myself as a needlessly cruel or draconian individual, pun not intended. It is my philosophy that the darkside is not entirely aptly named. While the Jedi labor under the belief that there exists knowledge that is by itself evil the Sith view knowledge as merely an end. Take for example my specialty necromancy. I could if I so wished raise hordes of zombies to terrorize the innocent like some storybook villain. But more often than not I employ it to gain information. I am primarily a scholar after all. Imagine if you will all the thoughts of the great minds that have gone before you. Is it more moral to simply let this vast store of information and brilliance go to waste or would it be more moral to allow these revolutionary thinkers to impart their wisdom to those currently among the quick?"

With a fluid practiced motion I raise from my reclining position to my hind quarters. I stand about forty feet in such a stance, a little over four times the height of a wampa or a twice that of a large rancor. Motioning to a quartet of servants with a claw the skeletal porters bring over a heavy stone sarcophagus covered in runes in ur-Kittât - the old Sith tongue. When the coffin is brought to me I grasp it in my foreclaws. I judge its weight to be about two tonnes. Solid, but not an issue to one such as myself.

"In fact I rather think that the Jedi fear necromancy most among the Sith practices because it spells out some truths about the universe that they do not entirely want the general populace to grasp. Death, as a practitioner of the lightside, means the sacrifice of ones autonomy to the great gestalt goddess that is Ashla. One is forced to surrender their individuality to the great deity who has been shaping their actions through their entire lives. The darkside amplifies what is inside ones own personality which can bring about bouts of rage , sorrow , despair or hatred but the light side is a much more subtle manipulator. The will of a Jedi is not truly their own. Ashla waits behind the veil pulling their strings and waiting to add their essence to her own being. With that said what is it that you wish to start your training with? I can show you the art of speaking to the dead , raising corpses either as unthinking automatons or the manifestation and rehousing of souls so you may conjure forth specters and the thinking dead. Oh we are also expecting one more guest. She is, rather a unique individual, so do not be alarmed at her presence."

Kesran Opadal Lady Marrow

 

[Kesran Opadal]

Kesran kept walking forward, but cautiously. Then suddenly, the large black gates of the castles open before him. Kesran paused shortly then wandered through. Once inside, he could feel it. The cold, the eeriness. Wayward spirits and long dead warriors must still be residing here, for Kesran could detect their traces echoing from the cosmic force. Still, he continued on.

Soon he arrived in the center of the castle, in what seemed like a massive audience chamber or just a very large hall. Towards the middle and upon a huge flat slab, sat the Basiliskan. Immediately, they lifted their head and acknowledged Kesran. The young acolyte nearly stopped in his tracks completely. The dragon-type Sith now postured briefly and now addressed him. When he spoke, Kesran felt some relief as the large beast spoke the common tongue and was quite easy to understand. His new teacher went into how he had heard of him and his problems with finding a new master. He agreed that he wasn't a supremely powerful dark lord, but that started to matter less to Kesran the more he considered it.

He then went into how he did not want his subservience, which Kesran was relieved about as well.

Kesran quickly responded before his master continued. "Yes master, as you wish".

Then, he went into a tangent about his outlook on the dark side, Jedi, and scholarly wisdom, which all intrigued the young Sith apprentice.

Kesran meant to agree in response but before he could say anything, the Basiliskan Sith Knight began to stand on his hind limbs. Doing so made him around 6 times the height of Kesran. It nearly spooked and certainly surprised the apprentice a bit. He then ushered for his skeletal servants to bring over a sarcophagus. Once it was placed in front of him, his new master easily lifted it in his claws and began to examine it. Kesran had started to as well, noticing the old Sith tongue of ur-Kittât placed on runes sporadically over the coffin. This made the youngster very intrigued and his historical passion came to the surface as his dragon Sith master went on another segment about the force, the dark side, and the meaning of death within the current context. Soon he asked Kesran, what would he like to start his training with. Instead, still enveloped into the Sith sarcophagus before him, Kesran asked his new master about it.

"Very fascinating, is this from the tombs on Korriban?". He soon realized that his master had verbally moved on, but he was sure he would answer his question before getting back to the topic of training. After his master would sate his curiosity, he would then answer the question regarding the beginning of his training.

"Well, I have been studying the more traditional and practical Sith abilities, so I think a chance in pace and in subject could be refreshing and also help improve my mystical knowledge along the way".

Then again, you are the master and I am the apprentice, so the decision is ultimately yours my lord". He now bowed his head and shoulders to show respect. Kesran now left it up to his new Sith mentor to either go off of what Kesran had purposed or do something else. As long as Kesran got to finish his training, it didn't matter in what way it was completed.



Ulrich

 

[Ulrich]

A smile came to lips as Kesran inquired about the nature of the coffin that I held. I brought the cask down to the castle floor so that he might examine the designs a little more closely.

"Correct apprentice! Your historical knowledge does you credit. This was indeed excavated from the valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban. It happens to be the casket of an ancient sorcerer king by the name of Darth Akentahn. The reason I have it present is that you will not be the only one who is here to improve their abilities. A little later after we have completed your lesson I plan on attempting to raise the body of the Darth as the most powerful form of undead that I know of - a force lich. I very much doubt I will be able to control it , so you and my other guest will be there to help me put it down again. Dangerous I know, but the being will be in a weakened state from its recent resurrection , and if my ambitions are to be realized I need to practice such things."

Setting the cask aside I motion to one of my servitors. Noting it the skeletal form begins to return to the ship in which my things are being unpacked. I continue my instructions to Kesran.

"As for your training I think it best that you learn to call up and communicate with a shade of the deceased. The vast majority of ghosts are harmless in their natural state but when manifested by a necromancer they often gain the telekinetic abilities of the poltergeist and more dangerous still the power of possession. As force adepts we are both more and less vulnerable to such a state. More because our minds are open to greater forces allowing easier access for spirits , less in that we are trained to hone our will. A ghost can only take command if it can overwhelm the personality of the bodies original inhabitant after all."

The servitor had arrived carrying a leather bound volume in its skeletal arms. Wordlessly it offered the grimoire to Kesran standing motionless until the young Sith was ready to claim it.

"That is a copy of my personal grimoire. , when you depart today take it with you. Given your recognition from the coffin and your previous interest in history I assume you are familiar with the old Sith tongue. If so turn to the 87th page. There you will find the incantation to summon forth a lingering spirit. Magic is by far the most powerful application of the force, after all it was magic that allowed Naga Sadow to destroy an entire sun , but spells are not like other force techniques. You may fail many times in practicing telekinesis or in the summoning of lightning and suffer little in the way of consequences. If your casting of a spell is faulty you open yourself up to attack by ghosts , demons and if you are extremely unfortunate things that are worse than either. So before you recite this spell I want you to fix your mind on someone who you know that has died. Someone familiar to you whose name that you know. Speak the spell and recite the name to call that ghost of that person up to manifest before us. Should things go wrong I'll do my best to mitigate the damage, but it would be best for all of us if your recitation was perfect."

Kesran Opadal Lady Marrow

 

[Kesran Opadal]

Kesran listened intently as his new master seemed pleased of his disposition to historical studies. The creature went onwards, explaining how the coffin was home to Sith Lord, named Darth Akentahn. Lord Ulrich explained how he planned to resurrect the dark lord and turn his spirit and form into a force lich. Kesran had only briefly read about those in his studies and not to any extent. But he knew it was a powerful form of Sith necromancy, and the young apprentice was excited to see it in person.

His master continued on and began to discuss his training, Kesran now paid extra attention to his Sith master and his instructions. He soon explained that Kesran would jump right into necromancy with calling up a "shade of the deceased", which he believed to be a low level ghost type. Ulrich kept on about more ghost stuff. Kesran tried to keep up with all the information, but this was pretty new to him.

One of his master's skeletal servants brought forward a leather book. Kesran reached to take the book once it was placed in front of him. He grabbed it, and wiped off the light layer of dust and ash upon the cover. His master then said that this book was his personal grimoire and that he was giving it to Kesran. Already, Kesran was liking his new master.

Soon Ulrich mentioned the old Sith tongue, which Kesran had learned extensively while under the Shaper's tutelage. He wasn't entirely fluent, but could read it perfectly and speak it with a good amount of knowledge of how to.

"Yes master, I have studied our ancient language quite a bit".

He obeyed his master's command and opened to page 87 as instructed. Once there, he explained that Kesran would be reading and then speaking an incantation to summon a lingering spirit. Kesran examined the page and quickly memorized the words, still thinking through them in his head in the meantime.

The Sith Lord went into a spiel about the ways of Sith magic and the dangers it can hold and unleash. He told him that it would worse then messing up typical Sith powers. There would be worse consequences, like opening himself up to ghosts.

He continued to listen to his master as he now began to instruct Kesran that he wanted him to fix his mind of someone who he knew that dead. Kesran knew a lot of dead people, but a few did stand out. His mother, he wouldn't do that. A few of his formers friends, no.

Wait, he had one that could work.

Dresk Mikko. His former companion who he traveled with after escaping Bakura.

Kesran had killed him once Mikko had unveiled his betrayal. It was a whole mess and Kesran was glad to have been done with that. But now he had to bring it back to the surface of his mind. However, it was the best he could do right now.

He began to bring back the memories of his comrade and centered them in his mind.

Then, as his master instructed he began to speak the incantation of the Sith spell.

"Wonoksh Qyâsik nem......". He recited the spell in near perfect form. As he neared the end of the spell's text, he spoke the name of the ghost he was attempting to conjure.

"Dresk Mikko"

He then waited and hoped the spell would work, or at least that he did every as well as he could.





Ulrich